Tesla CEO Elon Musk Joins President Trump's New Manufacturing Council (electrek.co) 137
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Electrek: Tesla CEO Elon Musk was already on President Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum, but the White House announced today that he will also be joining the administration's new manufacturing council, a private sector group that advises the U.S. secretary of commerce. He headed a meeting on Monday at the White House. Musk was present along with several other industry leaders who are now also formally joining the manufacturing council. CNBC reports: "The group of business leaders includes Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and chief executives of large American companies like Ford, Dow Chemical, General Electric, Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Richard Trumka, president of the labor federation AFL-CIO, will also give advice." As we recently reported, while Musk's mission to accelerate the advent of renewable energy might seem at odd with Trump's plan to unlock fossil fuel reserve, but Musk is betting that job creation is more important to the new President than simply satisfying the oil industry. If Trump wants to be the champion of job creation and Tesla shows that renewables create a lot of jobs, then their interests are aligned. Tesla currently employs over 30,000 people, more than 25,000 of which are in the U.S. The company wants to add over 3,000 manufacturing jobs at its factory in Fremont, California, 1,000 at its solar panel factory in Buffalo, New York, and over to 6,500 at the Gigafactory in Nevada.
I feel conflicted about this (Score:3, Interesting)
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Suck it up Buttercup
Re:I feel conflicted about this (Score:4, Funny)
CNN reports that multiple intelligence sources confirm that Donald Trump breathes air and drinks water. If we do the same we risk normalizing Trump and implicitly endorsing his march toward complete planetary annihilation.
I suggest we all immediately stop breathing and drinking, and spend the next four years chanting anti-Trump mantras at a wall in Queens.
Re:I feel conflicted about this (Score:4, Insightful)
I already miss jackie4chan, /pol/blart, jihadi jesus and CIA.
How ironic this whole mess is: They chant "HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US" while dividing people with opposing opinions to the sidewalk and shrieking their cult chant any time someone attempts to debate them.
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I suggest we all immediately stop breathing and drinking, and spend the next four years chanting anti-Trump mantras at a wall in Queens.
I'll settle for less: If he finally makes the comb over go out of style I'll count that as a win.
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A come over?
But by all means please proceed.
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True, and this could actually be quite helpful.
Re:I feel conflicted about this (Score:5, Insightful)
Look, even Bernie Sanders says he'll work with Trump, and it's not because Sanders has changed his feelings about the "billionaire class". It's because Bernie has cynically sized up Trump as a selfish putz who wouldn't hesitate to stab is Republican "friends" in the back if it flattered his ego. That's a good thing from Sanders' point of view.
You don't have to like or even respect someone to use them; you just have to be wary of getting used yourself.
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Hey Vlad, is that you?
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The best thing Musk could do to stroke his ego is through a transparently obsequious act, e.g. offer to clad out Mar Del Lago or one of his other buildings with solar panels. Trump will suddenly start spouting how wonderful solar and renewables are for creating jobs.
Trump lacks knowledge, impulsive, but effective (Score:3)
Probably Trump's biggest weakness is that he lacks knowledge about policy issues. He's a real estate developer, not a policy wonk or career politician. He's also impulsive, saying things without thinking carefully about the consequences, but his lack of information is probably his biggest weakness.
On the other hand, he's an effective manager who gets big projects done.
Therefore, we can expect him to do big things - sometimes the wrong things. However, he's shown the ability to (sometimes) listen to expert
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Elon is pragmatic. He's got nothing to lose being in a position to influence policy that affects what he wants to do.
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It seems you are experiencing cognitive dissonance. You have been programed to equate Trump with Hitler, but now something happened to conflict with that belief. Now you are struggling to resolve these conflicting feelings. Perhaps Occam's Razor is what you should be considering. Trump may have lots of faults, but maybe, just maybe, he's not Hitler. Maybe he actually has some good ideas and is actively trying to make America great. I don't expect everyone to agree with his methods. I don't, but I do admire
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Trump has referred to his "enemies", which apparently include everyone who politically disagrees with him. That's about as divisive as it comes.
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Nope. I'm fine, thank you.
Nope. I know enough history to draw my own parallels without somebody having to instill them in me. The big differences are that Hitler was a lot more competent than Trump, and the US is far more resilient than the Weimar Republic.
C'mon, so he got a good adviser. Trump's not competent enough to make sure all his advisers
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Considering the extent to which his opposition is Progressing off the side of a cliff that's a yuuge possibility.
Watch the Progs take over the Democrat party and nominate someone even more hopelessly idealistic and ineffective than Sanders in 2020. I'm sure doubling down on "You stupid, ignorant, racist, hillbilly white trash bigots just don't know what's good for you" is going to turn out so much better this time around.
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oh they already pay for it, 20% increase in tax on Mexican goods. :*
May I know how can a Mexican pay for the tax? I have a few Mexican friends who are very eager to find out. Do they have to cross the border to buy stuffs in America? Is there any other way for them to do so, because they're kinda lazy.
Oh... you mean "pay for it", as in "I'll make you guy pay for this, just you wait" kind of "pay for it". I see, my bad.
You are so gullible (Score:2)
1) Trump puts 20% tax on Mexican imports
2) Imports increase in price to account for same
3) We, the American consumer, pay the increased price
4) Wall is paid for. By American consumers.
That is the plan.
Mexico is not going to pay. We are going to pay.
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Richard Trumka of the AFLCIO has already embraced Trump, and the unions got their first welcome in the White House in Years: neither Clinton nor Obama ever let them in, let alone the Bushes. If it's okay for the unions to support Trump, why hold it against CEOs?
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"On the other hand, having a few people involved like Musk are very sane and wealthy enough that Trump will listen to them"
It might be the case.
However, the article states "Musk is betting that job creation is more important to the new President than simply satisfying the oil industry". There has been quite a lot of fanfare about the "Trump's tycoons council" but, nothing abut representatives of the other side, you know, the labour mass. Why is it so? I mean, while job creation is surely important, the qu
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On the one hand, Trump is so terribly awful that any sort of support of him is problematic and dangerous.
Might want to take your head out of your ass and look some. Quit saying the sky is falling - chicken little.
Doing dangerous things, like enforcing the law, protecting the Constitution, things like that. I know, he'll probably want other terrible things, like for you to pay for your own education, your own mortgage, your own food, your own health care (and not the freeloaders) and your own cell phone. Horrors. You know, be an adult. Big switch from the last despot we had in the WH.
Re:example (Score:1)
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Musky deserves his tunnel because he's better than you commoners who aren't billionaires like he is.
No, he deserves it because he's a doer and a maker, while you and others dumping on Musk and Trump are greedy takers, useless eaters, and oxygen thieves who make no meaningful contribution to humanity or society whatsoever while demanding trophies for showing up and being paid for simply having a pulse because mommy told you you're a special snowflake and that your opinion matters.
Newsflash, you Snowflakes, Trigglypuffs, and SJWs! You're not special and your ignorant opinions don't matter to anyone, apparen
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Spring may ebb into summer and fall, then we come back and begin the process anew.
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Another Koch paid Russian Troll!!!
Re: I feel conflicted about this (Score:1)
Why the hate? Sure Musk was lucky but more than most can be said to be a self-made millionaire. He bootstrapped his way up from one company to the next and that very first company was started with a mere $28000 from his father https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk . Inherited wealth, now that's another story https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QzQYA9Qjsi0
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Why the hate? Because after losing the election they have nothing left but hate...
I've been shutting off threads, when they get too bad.
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Musk did indeed get lucky, but it remains to his credit that he is engaged in pursuits that he believes will benefit the whole human race, and not just his bottom line. Relatively few billionaires develop a social conscience at all, most of them only seem to do it in later life after their billions are established already.
Betting your billions on an enterprise you're doing primarily because you think it's a good thing? He deserves a certain amount of nerd adulation.
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Another Putin paid Russian Troll!!!
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"Musk and Trump"? Trump is primarily known for self-promotion, being a reality show star, big buildings, and stiffing his small contractors. Musk is primarily known for creating an efficient electronic payment system, a much more efficient way of putting stuff into orbit, a company making really good electric cars, and more recently his battery initiatives. I have a sneaking suspicion who's made more significant contributions to humanity.
Re:Inequality (Score:2)
Re: I feel conflicted about this (Score:2)
Elon is the greatest CEO in America (Score:1, Informative)
Pray Musk doesn't loan the RDF generator to Trump (Score:1)
Are we allowed to say this out loud yet? Or has Musk finished upgrading the RDF he has on loan from Jobs' estate?
Phrases (Score:2)
Re:Phrases (Score:5, Interesting)
I think it's more a case of Musk running a number of companies which are extremely vulnerable to the whims of the federal government, especially SpaceX, and he is acting to protect those. As to his personal beliefs and how hard he may have bite his tounge along the way, I've no idea.
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Guess what?
ALL companies are extremely vulnerable to the whims of the government. Where do you think corporate charters come from? No corporation could exist without the government. Never mind all the nice expensive public infrastructure that almost every corporation uses.
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That's not the same as depending on government procurement and/or subsidies though.
Also, I don't thing roads & bridges disappear with a stroke of the president's pen.
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Posts here are gonna be hilarious! (Score:2, Interesting)
Seeing the heads explode for all the deranged Trump haters who also are Elon fanbois - both very common /. denizens.
Oh, the hilarity!
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You must consider fans of Musk to be pretty stupid.
Anyhow, I am one and I think Trump is a sick joke, but I am quite happy about this piece of news. Pretty sure every Tesla shareholder will feel the same way.
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Oh, the hilarity!
What does Mrs. Clinton have to do with this? I thought we were done with her?
Give us a break (Score:2)
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https://www.google.com/#safe=o... [google.com]
https://www.google.com/#safe=o... [google.com]
I felt a disturbance... (Score:5, Funny)
What do you expect Musk to do? (Score:1, Interesting)
This is a guy who has no problem wielding the power of the presidency against companies that rub him the wrong way. It's a hostage situation, not a negotiation.
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Exactly right. You might as well as be on the podium with Mr. Trump looking down at everybody else rather than in the pit looking up...
30,000 jobs at tesla alone?! (Score:2, Interesting)
Holy shit! Tesla alone employs almost as much people as 20% of the entire oil and gas extraction workforce!!!
https://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag211.htm
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And the automation of drilling rigs is accelerating. The job count in all of the extraction industry will go down a lot.
Smart. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm sure Elon's advice will be to keep those subsidies coming!
5$ Bn. so far....as they say, not bad for Govt. work.
http://www.latimes.com/busines... [latimes.com]
Modest Proposal (Score:1)
Maybe Elon can offer Trump the opportunity to make America great by being the first passenger on a manned SpaceX mission.
Top Ten Amazing Outcomes of Trump/Musk pairing (Score:5, Funny)
10) Illegal Immigrants now deported by rocket, greatly increases number of tests for rocket landings and speed of deportation.
9) Trump rides in custom presidential self-driving Model X with steering wheel replaced by custom Twitter console.
8) Trump hair dryer now completely battery powered and can operate to 1000 degrees.... C.
7) Any time Republicans disagree with Trump, forced to come over and watch hours of taped footage of Musk unveiling products.
6) Any time drug dealers are cornered and will not emerge from imposing drug fortress, hours of taped footage of Musk unveiling products is projected through windows and audio tuned to frequency of fortress walls.
5) Nuclear weapon implosion stage upgraded from high explosives to 100% solar fusion initiation.
4) Taking after Obamacare mandate, all citizens forced to enter into contract with Solar City.
3) On a very special season of The Apprentice, final candidates for first U.S. Mars mission are selected. All Democrats and most of Hollywood immediately applies.
2) All Model 3's now ship with gold interior, including the leather.
1) Hyperloop runs along the entire top of Mexico wall. Better be able to scale it un under 30 seconds before the next Loop pod comes screaming by!
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1) Hyperloop runs along the entire top of Mexico wall
I know you're kidding but that's kind of a cool idea.
#4 (Score:2)
4) Taking after Obamacare mandate, all citizens forced to enter into contract with Solar City.
Crazy, however if you think of all the advantages of a truly distributed electrical generation being a considerable chunk of your total energy matrix, it isn't all that bad of an idea. The redundancy, the backup, the efficiency of close to market generation, about the only two negatives are the amount of capital in the form of loans and incentives, but even energy aside for the amount of local jobs created you coul
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I actually think most households will have solar within say 20 years, and as you said that much distributed power generation is a huge boon for the robustness of the electrical grid...
Solar Wall is I think a pretty awesome idea. It could even power a bunch of sensor packages to monitor inevitable breaches.
Support and pull to normalize? (Score:2)
Re: Boycott Tesla NOW (Score:2, Insightful)
Fucking American putting America before his tribalism and support of the causes which you support which must be the right ones. How horrible a person he must be.
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So, instead of having someone pretty sane, very intelligent, and has figured out solutions to problems which which have stumped many others, we should isolate Trump and only let the crazies and idiots talk to him?
He needs all the help he can get. I loathe Trump, but if Elon can get his ear maybe he'll listen to someone with some sense.
Stop being such an absolutist. You're not making anything better.
Re:winning! (Score:1)
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Another paid Russian Troll!!!